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Next Liberal budget could force NDP’s hand, says insider

Kathleen Wynne’s minority government doesn’t intend to negotiate with NDP to get its support for spring budget, a senior Liberal insider says.

Premier Kathleen Wynne addresses Liberal supporters at the party's general annual meeting in Toronto on the weekend. Much of the talk was about election preparedness. (Vince Talotta / Toronto Star) | Order this photo

The minority Liberal government doesn’t intend to negotiate with the New Democrats in order to get their support for the spring budget, a senior Liberal insider says.

That could set the stage for a provincial election in June and also puts the spotlight on NDP Leader Andrea Horwath, who has seemed far less bullish about joining the eager Tories in pulling the plug on the Liberals’ 10-year-plus reign.

“There will be no negotiating with the New Democrats this time around‎,” said a veteran Liberal, who spoke to the Star on Sunday on the condition of anonymity.

“They will not design a budget to get the NDP onside … so the chances for an election increase dramatically,” he said.

Liberal party officials would not publicly discuss their tactics surrounding the budget, but Premier Kathleen Wynne has previously acknowledged that unlike last year’s budget — in which the Liberals appeased the NDP on a few fronts, including a 15-per-cent reduction in auto insurance premiums — this year’s will not be “let’s make a deal.”

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The Grits are coming off the weekend’s annual general meeting in Toronto, where much of the agenda dealt with election readiness in one way or the other.

Liberal officials, supporters and volunteers are keenly aware that the window of opportunity for a timely provincial election is closing, given there is a Toronto municipal election this fall and a federal election in the fall of 2015 and between the two are the Pan Am Games.

The Star also learned there was pressure on Premier Kathleen Wynne after Family Day to bring in proposed legislation that would set June 19 as the date for the next general election — thereby increasing pressure on the NDP to decide one way or the other.

The fixed four-year date for the next provincial general election is the fall of 2015, but because the Liberals form a minority government that date is anything but sure.

But Wynne maintained her position that she will not in any way take the initiative to prompt an election. Instead her government will rise or fall on the budget, which will have a proposed provincial pension plan as its centrepiece.

“If she tables a budget and we can’t support it, then that will trigger an election,” said NDP House Leader MPP Gilles Bisson.

But, he added, the New Democrats will continue to make the legislature work that up until that point — unlike the Tories, he said, who have been champing at the bit for another kick at the can since the 2011 election.

“If there is an election, there’s an election, and we will do what we have to do,” he told the Star. “But in the meantime we have to represent those people who are looking to us for leadership on issues of jobs, hydro rates, the gas plants and all that other stuff.”

With just over a year under her belt as premier, Wynne has spent much of that time apologizing for past party spending scandals, including the $1.1-billion cost — as certified by the auditor general — of scrapping gas plants in Oakville and Mississauga and relocating them elsewhere.

“We have talked a lot about this over the past number of months, really for the last year … because we agree there were decisions made that shouldn’t have been made,” said Wynne on a CFRB radio program she hosted Sunday, where off the top she congratulated Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak and his wife Debbie on the birth of their daughter Maitland.

Finance Minister Charles Sousa, who joined Wynne on air, said the budget will address “the aspirations and the issues that are important to Ontario” and then it will be up to the opposition Tories and New Democrats whether to support it.

“We are not anxious to have (an election) but we are going to move forward,” Sousa said.

Tory MPP Rod Jackson said if there isn’t an election this spring then voters will have the New Democrats to thank or blame.

“I think their urban (members) are not keen to go to the polls. They know that the Liberals are eating their lunch because Kathleen Wynne is more left than Andrea is, while the rural NDP are looking at some gain so they are eager to do it,” he said.

Jackson said he too believes the Liberals are going to make it difficult for the NDP to support the minority government’s budget again.

The Progressive Conservatives, in contrast, are ready to hit the hustings, the Barrie MPP said.

“We’re ready to go. We want to go and get this thing over with and get Ontario going again,” he said.

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